Tag : Economics

Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail? Contrary to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it has to do with the legal structure of property and property rights. Every developed nation in the world at one time went through the transformation from predominantly informal, extralegal ownership to a formal, unified legal property system. In the West we've forgotten that creating this system is also what allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth. This persuasive book will revolutionize our understanding of capital and point the way to a major transformation of the world economy.

Why do some countries succeed at capitalism while others fail? Contrary to the popular view that success is determined by cultural differences, de Soto finds that it has to do with the legal structure of property and property rights. Every developed nation in the world at one time went through the transformation from predominantly informal, extralegal ownership to a formal, unified legal property system. In the West we've forgotten that creating this system is also what allowed people everywhere to leverage property into wealth. This persuasive book will revolutionize our understanding of capital and point the way to a major transformation of the world economy.

I love this book because it helped me understand that even experts can be blind to important features of their subjects. I have done a lot of work on country competitiveness, but if anybody had asked me in 2000 to name the top 100 conditions that underpin a thriving economy, I wouldn’t have mentioned ”a well-functioning land registry system.” Then I read de Soto’s compelling case that the ability to get clear title to a piece of land is the essential precondition for successful capitalism. That not only changed my view of economics, but it also taught me to never be too confident that I’m seeing the whole picture. You can’t see what you aren’t looking for — so get help from others who see things that you don’t!”

The Great Deformation is a searing look at Washington’s craven response to the recent myriad of financial crises and fiscal cliffs. It counters conventional wisdom with an eighty-year revisionist history of how the American state—especially the Federal Reserve—has fallen prey to the politics of crony capitalism and the ideologies of fiscal stimulus, monetary central planning, and financial bailouts and bond markets. The Great Deformation explains how we got here and why these warped, crony capitalist policies are an epochal threat to free market prosperity and American political democracy.

The Great Deformation is a searing look at Washington’s craven response to the recent myriad of financial crises and fiscal cliffs. It counters conventional wisdom with an eighty-year revisionist history of how the American state—especially the Federal Reserve—has fallen prey to the politics of crony capitalism and the ideologies of fiscal stimulus, monetary central planning, and financial bailouts and bond markets. The Great Deformation explains how we got here and why these warped, crony capitalist policies are an epochal threat to free market prosperity and American political democracy.

The most overlooked book I’ve read. Critics try to marginalize him, but a lot of people are thinking what he has the courage to say. If you want to understand why income inequality is worsening and why boom/bust cycles are getting more and more severe, read his book.

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. Michael Lewis travels to Germany, Greece, Ireland, Iceland and California to investigate the credit bubble in a brilliantly, sadly hilarious narrative.

The tsunami of cheap credit that rolled across the planet between 2002 and 2008 was more than a simple financial phenomenon: it was temptation, offering entire societies the chance to reveal aspects of their characters they could not normally afford to indulge. Michael Lewis travels to Germany, Greece, Ireland, Iceland and California to investigate the credit bubble in a brilliantly, sadly hilarious narrative.

This is the best book you can read to understand the global credit crisis. It’s a short book – just 5 chapters covering Iceland, Ireland, Germany, Greece, and California. What’s particularly fascinating is how each place had a wildly different reaction to the credit glut.

Economists use the term "bandwagon effect" to describe the benefit a consumer enjoys as a result of others' using the same product or service. They are difficult to get started and often fail before getting under way. The most successful bandwagon, apart from telephone service, is the internet. In this book Jeffrey Rohlfs shows how the dynamics of bandwagons differ from those of conventional products and services, with case studies including fax machines, telephones, CD players, VCRs, PCs, TV, and the Internet.

Economists use the term "bandwagon effect" to describe the benefit a consumer enjoys as a result of others' using the same product or service. They are difficult to get started and often fail before getting under way. The most successful bandwagon, apart from telephone service, is the internet. In this book Jeffrey Rohlfs shows how the dynamics of bandwagons differ from those of conventional products and services, with case studies including fax machines, telephones, CD players, VCRs, PCs, TV, and the Internet.

What the author calls ‘Bandwagon Effects’ most people call network effects. If you are thinking about starting or investing in a business with network effects, this is the best (and only good?) book on the topic.

If managers seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, they must understand the fundamental economics of information technology. The first book to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, Information Rules is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders navigate successfully through the tough decisions of the information economy.

If managers seriously want to develop effective strategies for competing in the new economy, they must understand the fundamental economics of information technology. The first book to distill the economics of information and networks into practical business strategies, Information Rules is a guide to the winning moves that can help business leaders navigate successfully through the tough decisions of the information economy.

‘Real economists’ talk about the economics of information goods (roughly defined as zero marginal cost goods). Sometimes a bit obvious if you’ve studied economics before but overall a really interesting read. Especially like the parts on different ways to tier pricing for information goods.

The American Challenge was 50 years ahead of its time in its appraisal of Europe, industrialization, the global economy and digital future, and the sclerosis of French politics. We can now rediscover this landmark book, and take measure of all that still remains to be accomplished to bring to fruition the dreams of post-war generation.

The American Challenge was 50 years ahead of its time in its appraisal of Europe, industrialization, the global economy and digital future, and the sclerosis of French politics. We can now rediscover this landmark book, and take measure of all that still remains to be accomplished to bring to fruition the dreams of post-war generation.

The book got a lot things right, but certainly there were things that didn’t quite happen, and you always have to ask yourselves why they didn’t. This whole category of past books about the future is a very interesting one, and that is one that I always recommend very strongly.

Niall Ferguson's, The Ascent of Money, is an informative account of money. From debt and credit, which were indispensable even at the time of ancient Mesopotamia, to the French Revolution and its links to world financial history, to the Great Depression and the stock markets of our century, he details how money shaped the history of the world.

Niall Ferguson's, The Ascent of Money, is an informative account of money. From debt and credit, which were indispensable even at the time of ancient Mesopotamia, to the French Revolution and its links to world financial history, to the Great Depression and the stock markets of our century, he details how money shaped the history of the world.

The most persuasive and complete account yet of the 2007-10 crisis and the lessons it holds for us. It matches impressive analysis with no-holds-barred criticism and persuasive prescription for a more stable future. A book no one with an interest in global affairs will want to neglect.

The most persuasive and complete account yet of the 2007-10 crisis and the lessons it holds for us. It matches impressive analysis with no-holds-barred criticism and persuasive prescription for a more stable future. A book no one with an interest in global affairs will want to neglect.

The best all-round account of the global financial crisis and what we should do to reduce the chances of a repetition.

What Anat Admati says

Wolf offers an insightful and brutal analysis of the broad political and economic forces that have shaped the global economy in recent years, particularly in Europe.

What Glenn Hubbard says

Wolf’s book sets the crisis in the context of structural problems that set the stage for the crisis, many of which have not been mitigated (indeed some amplified) by policy hyperactivity in the wake of the crisis. While not all of the diagnoses and future policy suggestions ring true, this book will stand the test of time as an introduction to the complexity of problems that presaged the crisis.